Currently, the charts are generally telling a positive story about the stock market and risky asset classes in general, although the Japan nuclear incidents are very much impacting that market as well as some others.
Problems with similar bonds created from subprime U.S. mortgages have sent tremors through the world's financial markets in recent weeks and led investors to be wary of asset-backed securities in general.
Aside from the problems in the bond markets in general and the asset-backed sector in particular, First Marblehead has had to contend with an investigation into the student-lending industry announced by New York in August and questions about the planned acquisition of Sallie Mae.
Without those implicit government guarantees, Pangloss values collapse, leading to a general fall in asset prices, which in turn, leads to loan defaults and losses for the banks.
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''Although endowments' attitudes toward private equity have been significantly affected by the global financial crisis, in general, they are still seeking to invest in the asset class, '' said the seven-page report.
"This is a very positive approach, " said Peter De Proft, director general of the European Fund and Asset Management Association in Brussels.
"The lease residual-value risk in general remains Ford Motor Credit's biggest asset-quality wild card, " says Glenn Reynolds of the credit analysis firm CreditSights.
Barofsky, former special inspector general in charge of oversight of the Troubled Asset Relief Program, was there, on the ground, in the trenches.
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"I think this is a very positive approach, " said Peter De Proft, director general of the European Fund and Asset Management Association in Brussels.
By comparison, REITs in general trade at 26% premiums to their net asset values, according to Green Street Advisors, a real-estate research firm.
In general, there will be extreme volatility and uncertainty in most asset classes across the board.
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There is, of course, a natural tension between the head of an organization, in this case the TARP (Troubled Asset Relief Program), and its Inspector General.
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"We understand the difference between investing in an asset that has value and adds value to economic activity as opposed to general spending, " said Rich Studley, president of the Michigan Chamber of Commerce.
Neil Barofsky, a former Southern District prosecutor who left the office in December, 2008, to become the first inspector general of the Troubled Asset Relief Program, considers this a mistake.
In that case, he was snagging an asset that had long been thought to be headed for General Electric 's NBC Universal unit.
In that case, he was snagging an asset that had long been thought to be headed for General Electric 's (nyse: GE - news - people ) NBC Universal unit.
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